Folding tables



Dec. 6, 1960 J. W. BEREMAN FOLDING TABLES Filed Jan. 28, 1959 2 sheets-sheet 1 John W Bereman INVENTOR.

Anomq Dec. 6, 1960 J. w. BEREMAN 2,963,331

' FOLDING TABLES Filed Jan. 28, 1959 2 Sheets-She et 2 John W Bereman INVENTOR.

FOLDING TABLES John Worling Bereman, Climax Springs, Camden County, Mo.

Filed Jan. 28, 1959, Ser. No. 789,650

4 Claims. (Cl. 311-90) The present invention relates to folding tables and has for an object the provision of a table of this kind in which the table top sections and their supporting legs can be moved quickly and easily with a minimum of effort between fully folded and fully extended positions.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a device of this character in which means are operatively connected to the table top sections and the supporting legs for automatically moving the table top sections and legs between their fully folded and fully extended positions after the initial movement of the table top sections in the folded and extended directions.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a folding table in which the means for moving said table top sections and legs from their folded to their extended positions also assist in holding these parts firmly closed or in their folded positions.

The present invention aims to provide a device of this character in which locking means are provided for locking the legs rigidly in their extended position to avoid col lapsing of the table when it is in use.

A further aim of the present invention is to provide a device of this type in which locking means are carried by the table top sections for automatically locking the sections in their fully extended position.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, the invention will be hereinafter more fully described and more particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawings in which the same parts are denoted by the same reference numerals throughout the several views,

Figure 1 is a bottom plan view of the folding table constructed in accordance with the present invention and showing the table in full lines in its fully extended or open position and showing one of the table top sections in phantom lines in its partially folded or collapsed position,

Figure 2 is a sectional view taken on the line 22 of Figure 1,

Figure 3 is a perspective view of the table in its fully closed or folded condition,

Figure 4 is a fragmentary perspective view of the two table top sections showing the locking means for holding the sections in their fully extended position,

Figure 5 is an enlarged fragmentary bottom perspective view of one of the table top sections and the means for folding and extending the sections and the legs,

Figure 6 is a similar view showing the parts in a different position,

Figure 7 is a fragmentary enlarged perspective view of the mounting and locking means for one of the legs,

Figure 8 is a fragmentary sectional view showing the latching means in its unlatched position, and

Figure 9 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view of the table top sections and their locking means shown in the locking position.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, 10 and 11 indicate two table top sections which are hingedly Patented Dec. 6, 1960 connected together by hinges 12. The table top section 10 is provided with an outer side rail 13, an inner side rail 14, and end rails 15 and 16. The table top section 11 is provided with an outer side rail 17, an inner side rail 18, and end rails 19 and 20. The hinges 12 are carried by the inner side rails 14 and 18 of the table top sections.

The short leg 21 of an L-shaped bracket 22 is secured by fastening elements 23, such as screws or the like, to the outer side rail 13 of the table top section 10. The L-shaped bracket 22 is secured to the inner face of the rail 13 intermediate the end rails 15 and 16 and the long leg of the bracket 22 is in contact with the undersurface of the table top section 10.

A lever 24, which may be in the form of a substantially T-shaped plate, is pivotally connected to the under or exposed surface of the long leg of the L-shaped bracket 22 by a pivot element 25, which may be in the form of a bolt, the screw threaded end of which is received in a suitable screw threaded opening formed in the long leg of the L-shaped bracket 22. In order to space the lever 24 from the bracket 22, a spacing element 26 encircles the pivot element 25 between the bracket 22 and the lever 24. The lever is free to rotate about a smooth faced portion of the pivot element 25.

It will be noted that the pivot element 25 extends through substantially the central portion of the head of the T-shaped lever 24.

A bar 27 is pivotally connected to the lever 24 by a pivot element 28, which may be in the form of rivet or the like. The rivet 28 extends through suitably aligned openings formed in the bar 27 adjacent one end thereof and in the leg of the T-shaped lever 24 adjacent one edge thereof remote from the pivot element 25. Adjacent its opposite end, the bar 27 is provided with an hook 32 extends towards the end rails 16 and 20 of the table top sections 10 and 11 and is angularly displaced with respect to the hook 30 at an angle of the order of ninety degrees. The hook 32 extends through a suitable opening formed in the free end portion of a bracket 33 which is secured to the inner face of the inner side rail 18 of the table top section 11 by means of suitable fastening elements. The free end portion of the bracket 33 is twisted so that the apertured portion thereof lies in a plane which is at substantially right angles to the plane of the attached portion of the bracket 33.

At its inner free end portion the bar 27 is cut away for substantially half of its width to leave a part 34 which is bent upwardly toward the under-surface of the table top section 10 to provide an abutment for engagement with the link 31.

Adjacent the opening through which the hook 30 extends, the bar 27 is provided with an aperture 35 for receiving therethrough the hook end portion of a coil spring 36. The aperture 35 is formed adjacent the edge of the bar 27 which is remote to the abutment 34 and the aperture 35 is formed outwardly of the opening 29. The coil spring 36 extends diagonally toward the inner corner of the table top section 10 which is defined by the end rail 15 and the inner side rail 14 thereof and is attached to a bracket 37 which in turn is secured to the inner face of the end rail 15 by suitable fastening elements 38 which may be in the form of screws or the like.

A stop or abutment 39 is formed on the lever 24 by slitting the leg of the lever 24 adjacent the edge thereof which is remote from the pivot element 28' and bending the severed portion toward the under-surface of the table top section 10 until it is positioned in a plane at substantially right angles to the plane of the lever 24.

Supporting legs 40 are movably connected to the under- :surface of thetable. top sections 10 and 11. by mounting means generally indicated at: 41. All of-the mounting means'4-1 are identical 'and:the one in the. lower left hand corner of. Figure. 1 will be described 'in particular. The mounting means 41 comprises a substantially -U- shaped member having its closed portion 42 secured to the inner face of the end rail 16 of the table top section 10 by suitable, fastening elements 43,.which may be in theform of screws or ,the like. The-legs 44 extend inwardly from the closed end-1421 and receivetherebetween a substantially vU-shapedclement 45 which 'is -pivotally mounted upon aipivotrelernent 46 carried by the legs 44 of the U shaped mounting member. The leg 40 has its upper end portion received bythe U-shaped element 45 and is secured to the closed'end thereof by-suitable fastening elements 47. -A detent 48 is carried by the legs 44 of the. U-shaped mounting member for engaging the closed end of. the U-shaped element 45 for arresting ithe movement of the leg and element 45 at the end of the movement of the leg to its fully extended position. For locking the leg in its fully extended position, a

. latch 49 is pivotally carried by a pivot element 50, which in turn is carried by the legs of the U-shaped element 45.

The latch 49 is provided with a notch or recess 51 which receives the detent 48 when the leg 40 is in its fully extended position so as to. lock the leg against collapsing.

.. The pivot 50 and .the notch llare disposed adjacent the upper edge of the latch 49. One end of a rod 52 is connected to the latch 49-at the lower edge thereof at .a pointbelow and remotefromthe pivot 50, as-indicated at 53.

The opposite end of the rod 52is connected to the adjacent end of the head of the T-shaped lever 24. It

will benoted that the connection 53 of the rod 52 with -the latch 49 is formed by a hookprovidedon the adjacentend of the rod 52 and the connection of the opposite end of the rod 52 to the lever 24 is also formed by a hook provided on that end of the rod 52. It will be noted that these hooks are angularly offset at an angle of substantially ninety. degrees.

For .the purpose of locking .the table top. sections it) andlll. in theirfully extended position, a substantially .-.L-shaped latch 55 is engaged with a pivot element 56 carried by a pair of plates 57. frictionally secured against the inner faces of the side walls of an opening 58 and the side rail 14 of the table top section 10. A plate 59 is secured to the outer face of the rail 14 by suitable fastening elements 60, such as screws or the like, and engages the adjacent edges of the plates 57 to help retain them. in place. The plate 59 has an opening 61 which when the table top sections are in their fully extended vposition at which time the head of the latch 55 is confined behind the restricted portion of the T-shaped recess 63.

Inorder to releasably retain the T-shaped end 62 of the .latch 55 behind the restricted portion of the opening 63,

one end of a coil spring-67 is attached to the opposite end of the latch which extendsthrough the opening 58 of the rail 14 inwardly of the rail and beneath the table top section 10. From its point of attachment to the latch 55, the coil spring 67 extends across the lower faces of the rails 14 and 18 and has its opposite end attached to the lower shortleg'68 of a substantially L- sshaped bracket '69. The long leg of the bracket may .place the coiLspring 36 .under tension.

4 be secured to the inner face of the rail 18 in any suitable manner as by screws or the like.

As a means to release the latch 55, a crank consisting of a rod 79 aligned and trunnioned in bearings 71 secured in any suitable manner to the inner face of the rail 14. Centrally located in the rod is a U bend 72 positioned behind the latch 55 so that rocking of the U bend in a clockwise direction looking at Figure 9 of the drawings will cause the latch to rock on its pivot 56 to move the T-shaped end 62-downwardly 'into' alignment with the larger part of theT-shapedopening 63 so that the end 62 can be withdrawn therefrom torelease the latch. To facilitate the rocking of the rod 70, the opposite end portions are bent at substantially right angles thereto to provide handles 73.

The structure for extending and folding the table top section 11 and its legs 40 is identical to that described in connection with the table top section 10 and its legs 40 and corresponding parts are marked with the same reference numerals primed.

In the use of the device, assuming that it is in its extended position as shown in full lines in Figures 1, 2 and 5 of the drawings, the table will be inverted and the rod '70 rocked to release the latch 55. The top sections 10 and 11 will be moved about their hinges towards one another, since the pivot 28 and the point of attachment 29 of the bar 27 and. the link 31 are in alignment, that is, or dead center, thelink 3 1 will impart a straight line thrust to the bar 27. which will in turn communicate the thrust to the lever .24 and rotate the lever in a clockwise direction looking at Figures 1 and 5. This action will pull the rods52 inwardly andinitially rotate the latch 49 out of engagement with the detent 48. Further movement of the table top sections towards one another will move latch heel 49a to abut stop 45a on element 45 to cause the rods 52 tovswingthe legs 40 about their pivots 46 towards one another until they reach the folded position shown in phantom .lines at the right hand side of Figure 1.

As the legs approach their folded position the abutment 39 of the lever.24 will engage the adjacent edge of the bar 27 and further movement in the folding direction will move the bar 27 in a clockwise direction (see Figure 6) to move the bar past dead center and to Uponv further movement of the table top sections towards the folding position, the rotation of the lever will. cease when the legs engagethe table top sections but the bar 27 will continue to rotate clockwise due to the thrust of the link 31. This will move the bar 27 away from theabutment 39 and place the spring 36 under greater tensionand the point of attachment of the link 31 to its bracket 33 will pass from the right hand side of the hinges 12 to the left hand side of the hinges so that the thrust on the bar 27 by the link 31 will be interrupted and the tension of the spring 36 will come into action to move the bar 27 in the opposite direction and exert a back pressure on the link 31 to cause the table top section 11 to-automatically snap towards the table top sectiondl). The folding means on the other .section 11 will actin the same manner. The back pressureexecuted by the coil springs on the links will hold the sections in fully. folded position.

In extending the table, the top sections will be moved apart and as soon as the'points of connection of the links totheir backetshave passedtotopposite sides of the hinges 12, the coil springs will come into play. and move the bars intoengagement with .the abutments of the-levers to rotate the levers-.in opposite directionsto the folding movement. The dead center between the bars and links will be reestablished and the thrust of the bars on the links induced by the springs. At the last stage of extending movement the latch 49 will reengage its detent to lock the legs in extended position.

It is obvious that various changes and modifications may be made in. the details of construction and design of the above specifically described embodiment of this invention without departing from the spirit thereof, such changes and modifications being restricted only by the scope of the following claims.

What I claim is:

1. In a folding table, two table top sections connected together for movement between folded and extended positions, supporting legs on said sections adapted to be moved between folded and extended positions, a lever movably mounted on each table top section, a rod connected to each end of each lever and each rod being operatively connected to an adjacent leg, a bar pivotally connected to each lever, a link pivotally connected to the bar on each table top section and connected to the remote table top section, two springs each having one end connected to one of the bars adjacent the pivotal connection between the bar and its link and its other end connected to its table top section, the pivots of each bar and its rotor and its link being held on dead center by the spring in the extended position of the table and during the initial folding movement until the legs are completely folded so that movement of the sections will cause rotation of the levers, and cooperating means on the levers and bars for imparting to the bars the rotative movement of the levers against the action of the springs after the legs have been fully folded whereby the dead centers will be broken and the sections can come completely together.

2. A folding table as claimed in claim 1, wherein the initial separation of the table top sections towards the extended position will free the built up tension of the springs to return the bars and links to their dead center positions and to move the levers and rods so as to extend the sections and legs.

3. A folding table as claimed in claim 2, wherein locking means is carried by each leg and the adjacent pan of its table top section for locking the legs in extended position.

4. In a folding table, two table top sections connected together for movement between folded and extended positions, supporting legs on said sections adapted to be moved between folded and extended positions, means operatively connected to said sections and legs for moving said legs and sections between their folded and extended positions, means for mounting each leg on its table top section comprising a member fixed to the table top section, an element fixed to its leg and pivotally connected to said member, a detent on said member for arresting the movement of the leg and element at the end of the movement of the leg to its extended position, a latch pivotally mounted on said element having a recess for engaging said detent when the leg is in its extended position for locking the leg in its extended position, said latch being connected to said means for moving the leg between its folded and extended positions so that during the initial movement of said means in the leg folding direction said latch is moved relative to said element to disengage it from said detent, and stop means on said element for entraining the moving latch with said element during the subsequent movement of the latch in the leg folding direction so that the latch, the element and the leg are moved as a unit to the folded position of the leg.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,589,540 Meek June 22, 1926 1,684,653 Willett Sept. 18, 1928 1,905,282 Hatfield Apr. 25, 1933 1,920,577 Halinowski Aug. 1, 1933 1,965,700 Hatfield July 10, 1934 1,966,944 Bereman July 17, 1934 2,167,342 York July 25, 1939 2,284,003 Luppert May 26, 1942 2,719,067 Percy Sept. 27, 1955 

